Surgical hosiery



3 Sheet l A. R. BELL SURGICAL HOSIERY Filed Dec. 20. 1937 Oct. 15

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Oct. 15, 1940. A. R. BELL I 2,218,413

SURGICAL HOS IERY Filed Dec. 20, 1937 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Oct. 15, 1940. A.R. BELL 2 ,218,413-

SURGICAL HOS IERY Filed Dec. 20, 1937 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 igl fl WzMPatented Oct. 15, 1940 a UNITED, srATEs PATENT j OFFICE SURGICAL HOSIER-Y Arthur R. Bell, Philadelphia, Pa assignor of twenty-five per centto Walter J. Horn and twenty-five per cent to Franklin 8. Born, both ofPhiladelphia, Pa, and twenty-five her to Albert J. Miller, Bala Cynwyala.

cent

Application December 20, 1931. Serlal No, 180,872

anatomy respectively encircled by or encased I the'ribbed knit fabrichaving the rubber laid in within the various articles.

Prior to the present invention it has been customary to form surgicalappliances of the kinds above noted of ribbed knit fabric, and to laystrands of rubber in each of the courses of stitches of which the fabricis composed with,

the rubber disposed between the stitch wales drawn to one face of theribbed fabric and the stitch wales drawn to the opposite face of thecauses chafing of the skin at the places where the encased portion ofthe anatomy and the article are required to bend, such as the back ofthe knee, the frontof the elbow, the instep, etc.

Modern methods of manufacture of rubber filaments, such as are employedin elastic fabrics, have made it possible to produce the rubberfilaments with cross sectional areas sufficiently small to permit thefilaments to be formed into relatively fine gageknitted stitches.

In order to overcome the bulkiness of the surgical articles, as formedof fabric having the rubber strands laid in the stitch courses, thearticles more" recentlyhave been composed of fine rubber filamentscovered with silk, cotton,

etc. with the covered rubber 'knittedinto sucwhile the knit-in rubberfabric is of considerably lesser weight and bulk than had been possibleprior to the development of the fine rubber filaments.

Furthermore, where the rubber laid-in fabrics were capable of stretchingin a coursewise direction only, the knit-in rubberfabrics are capable ofstretching in both the coursewise and walewise directions.

In order to reduce the stiffness or harshness of the coursesat thebending portions thereof, to

enable the article to bend more readily at the backof the knee, etc., apractice suchas that disclosed in the patent to James O. Willmott, No.1,428,465, dated September 5, 1922, was resorted to. This methodinvolves expensive and 5 tedious hand' operations, including the removalof the rubber strands in the bending areas of the fabric, thereplacement thereof by soft fibrous textile filaments, and the tying ofthe ends of the elastic and fibrous filaments together, in the fabric.The result was a soft, readily bendable area which reduced or eliminatedthe tendency toward chafing.

' With the advent of the lighter articles composed of fine rubberfilaments knit into and solel5 1y forming the courses of stitches ofwhich the fabric was composed, it was impossible to remove the rubber inany portion ofthe fabric according to the Willmott practice, therefore,the knit rubber articles prior to the present inventionhave presentedthesame objectionable characteristics as originally presented by theribbed fabric articles having the rubber laid in the courses.

The object of the present invention, therefore,-is to produce aknit-rubber article having a bending area devoid ofrubber, for thepurpose of facilitating the bending of the part of the anatomy encasedby the article and to eliminate the tendency toward chafing in saidportion.

The construction of the article made in accordance with the principlesof the present invention, and various applications thereof, will be morefully disclosed hereinafter, reference ber knee band made in accordancewith the principles of the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a rear view, in perspective, of the article shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a view'similar. to Fig. 1, showing the knee band as providedwith a rubberless top;

Fig. 4 is a view of a surgical stocking including the knee sectionaccording to Fig. 1 with additional calf and foot portions;

Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 4, showing the article provided withthe rubberless top of Fig. 3;

Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig. 4 and illustrates the upper portion ofthe article composed of knit-rubber fabric and the lower portioncomposed of in+laid rubber fabric;

Fig. 7 is a view similar to F18. 1 but showing an elbow or anklebandmade in'accorda-nce with the principles of the present invention:

Fig. 8 is a stitch diagram of that area of the fabric designated by thecharacter x, in Fig. 1;

' and prises an elastic filament covered, in the present instancespirally, with a textile filament of silk,-

cotton, wool, etc.

The successively interknit courses of stitches 2 extend from the upperend 4 to the lower end 5 of the article I, with the exception of theportion A which is defined by and included within the lines ab, b-c andc-d. I The portion A is composed of amultiplicity of stitch courses 2awhich respectively constitute parts of those of the rubber knit courses2", 2 which lie between the lines -D, and c--d. The stitches of the partcourses 2a, 2a are composed preferably of a relatively soft textilethread or filament 6 which is devoid of rubber.

The juncture line bc is in the form of a suture produced by the stitchesadjacent the ends of the part courses 2b, which are formedof the rubbercontaining yarn 3, and the stitches adjacent the ends of the courseportions 20, which are composed of the textilerubberless yarn 6,overlapping each other to the extent of one or more stitch wales, l and8 respectively, whereby the rubberless portion A -is joinedwith therubber containing portion B and forms therewith an integrally united andinterknit limb encircling band I.

The rubberless portion A of the limb encircling band I, as noted above,is made exclusively of soft, pliable yarn and is readily susceptible toof the article l may be finished in any suitable manner. Preferablythese ends are provided with turned hems 9,, and HI respectively, theedges of the turned-over portions of the fabric forming said hems beingsecured to the body of the article I by elastic sutures ll and I2 whichare preferably produced in the manner disclosed in my copendingapplication, Serial No. 164,282, filed September 4, 1937.

The article shown in Fig. 3 is the same as that shown in Fig. l'with theexception that a rub-' ,berless portion A l, composed of successivelyintion Al is preferably provided with a turned hem 9a formed by securingthe edge of the folded fabric to the body of the portion Al by means ofan elastic suture lla. The rubberless portion Al is provided ininstances where a person desired to support the main rubber bearingportion la against possibility of slipping down, by the use of gartersof the suspender type extending down wardly from a girdle, etc.

The article shown in Fig. 4 is substantially the same, in the upperportion lb thereof, as the article shown in Fig. l, and includes a lowercalf portion 2l composed of rubber-knit courses 2 which aresubstantially the same as the rubber-knit courses 2 of the portion l Thearticle also includes a partial foot portion 22 composed of the samesort of rubber-knit courses of stitches. The

foot portion is preferably provided with a turned hem Illa formed withan elastic suture [2a. The portion 23a, lying behind the instep portion23 of the stocking shown in Fig. 4, is in some instances left open forthe accommodation of the heel, however, a rubberless fabric heel 24 maybe knit into {the stocking to close the portion 231: thereof, ifdesired. If the closed heel 24 is employed the same would be composed ofrubberless courses of stitches 20 corresponding to therubberless courses2a of the rubberless portion A of the fabric of Fig. 8, along the linese-f, )a, which define the normally open area 23a, to the rubber bearingcourses of the main body of the article in the same manner as the rubberbearing and rubberless stitches are joined on the lines a-b, and cd ofFig. 1. The closed heel section 24 would be formed by reciprocatingkniting, in the usual manner, whereby the usual gore line 25 would beformed where the course portions 2c of one half of the heel are joinedto the course portions 20 of the other half of the heel as a result ofsaid reciprocating knitting.

The article shown in Fig. is the same as that shown in Fig. 4 with theaddition of the rubberless top portion Al of Fig. 3 attached thereto,and with the heel section 23a. open.

The article shown in Fig. 6 includes a main portion lc which correspondsto the article I of Fig. 1 and with the rubberless top portion Al of Cin Fig. 9. The fabric C of the lower portion 2 la of the article iscomposed of successively knit coursesof stitches 26 formed of fibroustextile yarn such as the yarn 6. The stitches of each course 26, inalternate wales, are drawn to opposite faces of the fabric and therebyform a fabric of the ribbed type. A rubber-bearing yarn 21, either ofthe covered or bare rubber type, is laid in each of the stitch coursesbetween the oppo-' sitely extending stitches thereof. This rubberlaid-in portion 2la is joined to the rubber-knit portion B by an elasticsuture 28, formed in the same manner as the elastic sutures ll and I2 ofFig. 1.

The instep portion 23c of the article shown in Fig. 6 is preferablyformed with a natural curvature produced in the manner disclosed in theprior patent to Charles E. Southwick, Jr., No. 2,015,608, datedSeptember 24, 1935, or in the manner disclosed in the copendingapplication of Walter J- Horn, Serial No. 95,884, one of the coassigneesof the present application.

The article shown in Fig. '7 may be employed either as an elbow band oras an instep or ankle band. It includes a main portion ld composed ofknit-rubber courses 2, the same as the courses 2 of Fig. 1. The articlealso includes a bending portion A2 composed of rubberless courses ofstitches 2a, the same as the courses 2a of the rubberless portion A inFig. 1, said area A2 being defined by the lines al-bl, bl-cl, cldl. The

- upper and lower edges 4 and 5 may be provided with turned hems thesame as the turned hems 9 and Ill of the article I disclosed in Fig. 1.

, The articles shown in Figs. 1 to 7 are preferably of a seamlesstubular fashioned type capa ble of'production on the Lamb type orsimilar fiat knitting machine employing two banks of needles in parallelspaced relation to each other with cam andyarn feeding .means operablecontinuously in one direction to form' a tubular fashioned ter mode ofoperation is employed in the knitting of the; courses formed partly ofthe rubber bearing yarn 3 and partly of the rubberless yam 6 in theknitting of the course portions 2b and 2a respectively.

While a seamless fashioned tubular article is preferred circularnon-fashioning machines may be employed to form the article as astraight tubular structure, or the structuremay be made as a flat blankon a flat machine and its opposite edges subsequently joined to form thetubular structure, without departing from the spirit of the invention.

It will be understood that the articles disclosed in Figs. 3 to '7 aretubular in form, like the article shown in Figs. 1 and 2, and thatFigures 1, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 illustrate the articles are being flattenedand depicting but one side of the article in each instance, and that theopposite side of the article in each instance is a duplicate of thesidedepicted in each of said figures, thus, the rubberless portions A,A2 are laterally balanced in the backs of the leg encircling articles asshown in Fig! 2 and laterally balanced in the fronts of the elbow andankle encircling articles; and, in each instance, these rubberless areasA, A2 are included within and completely surrounded by knit-rubberfabric B which constitutes the major portion of the article.

The invention in its broader scope may also include a surgicalappliance, such as shown in Figs. 1, to 6 wherein the knit-rubber fabricB and the rubberless fabricAwould be formedseparatelyand pendingapplication. While this form of structure may not be as acceptable asthe integrally interknit structure above described it would serveitspurpose within the scope of the present invention.

I claim:

1. A surgical appliance for enclircling a human limb at a bendable jointtherein, said appliance being composed of plain knit fabric andconstructed throughout of successively interknit courses of stitchesextending completely around the limb, the courses adapted to embrace thelimb at and adjacent said joint being composed in part of rubber bearingyarn and in part of rubberless yarn with said yarns knit together-institches common to both yarns at the opposite sides respectively of saidjoint, and with the course parts composed of the rubber bearing yarnarranged to embrace the convexed surface of said joint when bent and thecourse parts composed of said rubberless yarn arranged to embrace theconcaved surface of said joint when bent.

2. A surgical appliance for encircling a human limb at a bendable jointtherein, said appliance being composed of plain knit fabric andconstructed throughout of successively 'interknit courses of stitchesextending completely-around the limb, the courses adapted to embrace thelimb at and adjacent said joint being composed in part of rubber bearingyarn and in part of rubberless yarn with said yarns knit together institches common .to both yarns at the opposite sides respectively'ofsaid joint, and with the course parts composed of the rubber bearingyarn arranged to embrace the convexed surface of said joint when bentand the course parts composed of said rubberless yarn arranged toembrace the concaved surface of saidjointwhenbent, and withcomplete limbencircling courses of stitches composed solely of said rubber bearingyarn arranged above and below the courses which are composed partly of.said rubber bearing yarn and partly of said rubberless yarn.

' AR'I'HURRBELL.

